Paul Hollywood divides the nation with jaffa cake dunk on Bake Off

Paul Hollywood caused a storm with his decision to dunk a jaffa cake in his cup of tea on The Great British Bake Off.

The much-loved BBC baking show returned to screens for a new series on Wednesday night (24Aug16). But while viewers were keen to see which hopefuls impressed judges Paul and Mary Berry, it was the silver fox's controversial dunking move that caused the biggest storm on Twitter.

After setting contestants a technical challenge to make 12 identical jaffa cakes, Paul and Mary tucked into a plate of perfectly created biscuits as they discussed the correct way to make the sweet treats. As their discussion came to an end, Merseyside native Paul moistened his jaffa by sticking it in his brew, leading to an aghast Mary berating him as she said: "We don't do that in the South."

Viewers were also quick to debate Paul's move, with one writing, "Paul Hollywood dunks his Jaffa Cakes in tea. This is unacceptable. Just dunk a Digestive instead you savage. #GBBO" while another added, "If someone dipped Jaffa cake into tea in my home they'd be immediately asked to leave #GBBO."

Another viewer tweeted: "Never has anyone seen mary berry more disgusted than when paul dunked his jaffa cake #GBBO."

Others insisted Paul's dunking was more than acceptable.

Meanwhile, church pastor Lee Banfield became the show's first casualty when he was kicked off the programme after failing to impress with his drizzle cake, his jaffa cake technical challenge and his mirror glaze cake showstopper.

After leaving the famous white tent, Lee laughed: "At church I do regular baking demonstrations but I won’t show the congregation how to make Jaffa-style cakes.

“I am not going to repeat that experience – I’ll buy them a pack instead!"

Jane Beedle was crowned the first Star Baker of the series, after leaving Paul and Mary more than satisfied with her lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake, her perfectly uniform jaffas and her mirror glaze offering - which was basically a giant version of the technical challenge.